Marine Drug Case Delayed 10 Days

A federal judge Thursday extended for 10 days an order preventing the Marine Corps from kicking out an El Toro sergeant because he showed positive in a surprise drug test last year.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge J. Spencer Letts keeps the temporary restraining order against the corps in effect and allows time for both sides to fashion a compromise on Staff Sgt. Michael Jordan.

“I think that’s what the judge wants us to do,” Kevin McDermott, Jordan’s civilian attorney said after meeting privately with Letts and prosecutors for 30 minutes. “This gives us an opportunity to try to negotiate. The implications were that both parties need breathing space to try to work this thing out.”

Jordan, an aircraft maintenance supervisor who works on F-4 Phantom jet fighters at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, has been fighting his ouster on the ground that he was denied a special court-martial he requested after failing the drug test.

A career soldier with 10 years in the Marines, Jordan also disputes the findings of the June, 1987, urine test, which showed he had recently smoked a large amount of marijuana. Three follow-up tests within a week of the first one, however, contradicted the initial test and found no traces of marijuana residue in Jordan’s system.

Despite the findings of the follow-up tests, the corps ruled that the first positive reading was reason enough to muster Jordan out. He was taken before a military administrative hearing board and given a less-than-honorable discharge.

McDermott said his client was denied due process because he was not given the option of having a special court-martial, a process in which Jordan would have been afforded legal counsel and the right to call witnesses.

Jordan has expressed confidence that given this type of court-martial, he could prove his innocence.

“Our best alternative is still to go with what we wanted. Let him go through a court-martial,” McDermott said. “With the kind of military counsel he has, I am confident he would get a fair hearing.”

Although Jordan said earlier he preferred to remain in the service, he indicated Thursday that he was willing to leave the corps if he could do so with an honorable discharge.

“The biggest thing for me is to get this label of being a drug user off my back,” said Jordan, 30. “I’d like to relieve the stress and the strain and the financial burden all this has caused my family.”

Both Jordan and his attorney interpreted the judge’s decision to extend the temporary restraining order as a victory of sorts.

“I wish all this had been over today, but I see a lot of positive signs,” Jordan said. “I think it’s positive that the judge was reluctant to make a hard-core decision. What he was saying was that the Marine Corps was . . . trying to stamp me for life, and I don’t think the judge thought that was right.”

Marcus Kerner, an assistant U.S. attorney handling the government’s case, said only that the judge “wanted to take some more time and not make a decision today.”

As to the possibility that a compromise could be reached out of court, Kerner said he was willing to discuss it.

“As the attorney representing the U.S. attorney’s office on this case, we will be happy to listen to Sgt. Jordan,” he said. “This office is ready to talk to Michael Jordan and counsel at any time. It is out policy to keep (open) communication.”